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Say a fond farewell to the small smartphone

With Apple set to unveil the largest iPhones ever on Sept. 12th, we look back fondly on the small smartphone, the cute, compact model that fit in pockets and purses. The largest of the new iPhones is expected to be 6.5 inches. The smallest iPhone still currently on sale is 4 inches.

Say a fond farewell to the small smartphone

Are small smartphones on their death bed? USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham tells us why larger smartphones might be here to stay.
USA TODAY

Let’s take a moment this weekend to praise and fondly remember the compact smartphone.

The little iPhone SE, with the 4-inch LCD screen, is a classic of another era and seems to be the last of its breed, one we may never see again.

This week, Apple confirmed its next launch event, set for Sept. 12, where the company’s next crop of iPhones are expected to be the biggest ever – 6.5 inches for the top of the line premium model and 6.1 inches for a new, lower-priced, but premium model. That compares to 5.8 inches for the current iPhone X and 5.5 inches for the iPhone 8 Plus.

This megaphone trend has been playing itself out for several years now. Phones are getting larger and larger, and the folks who prefer the small models, well, to them we say that it’s called progress, right?

The iPhone SE is the last of a breed, a small phone.(Photo: Jefferson Graham)

Beyond the iPhone, the current top-of-the-line Samsung phones are 5.8, 6.2 and 6.4 inches. The best-selling phone in Asia, the Xaomi Redmi Note 5, is 6 inches as well.

Big clearly sells with the public.

pocket sizes are shrinking, clutch handbags are in, I'll die with my small phone for fashion.

But let’s get real – small has its place, too. A phone such as the SE fits in your pocket snugly. It’s cute. It’s compact. It's cheap! Apple sells the SE for $350, compared to the largest phone in its current lineup, the iPhone X, which starts at $999.

Apple may sunset the SE with its new product launch, just as it has retired other products of the past (think classic iPod) or features we loved (high on that list is the headphone jack on iPhone and the CD/DVD drive on Mac computers).

I like a big screen as much as the next guy, but, please, I also love diversity and choice. I loved the iPod, others swore by the Blackberry. We miss them. And we’ll miss the small phone, too. Please don’t take it away.

I like the fact that I can put it in my pocket without it falling out… I definitely like the small ones

Using mobile pay services like Apple Pay is faster and more secure. USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham wonders why more people aren't using it?
Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY

In other tech news this week

• Politicians went after tech. President Donald Trump took on Google this week, saying the search results were biased against conservatives. And former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders went after e-commerce giant Amazon, arguing the company treated its workers unfairly. Both companies fought back, with Amazon denying Sanders' charges and Google saying its mission is to provide "high quality" content, without any bias.

• In other Google News, the search giant added bilingual features to the Google Assistant, the personal helper found on Android and iOS phones and the Google Home connected speaker. After a quick setup, the Assistant will be able to answer you when you speak to it in any two of these languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese. More languages are to follow. Assuming it works as promised, it will answer in the language you used for the question. The new feature began rolling out this week.

• E-scooters were welcomed back to San Francisco. Scoot and Skip, two companies most folks probably haven't heard of, were granted one-year permits to operate in the city, while Bird and LIme, the most popular firms, didn't get approved. The app-accessed electric scooters are still banned in many California cities, including Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach.

Thanks for checking in with Talking Tech. You can subscribe to the Talking Tech newsletter here: technewsletter.usatoday.com. Also be sure to listen to the daily Talking Tech podcast on Stitcher, Apple and Google podcasts, and follow me (@jeffersongraham) on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.